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The combined effects of exposure to multiple PM2.5 components on overweight and obesity in middle-aged and older adults: a nationwide cohort study from 125 cities in China

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Abstract

The prevalence of overweight or obesity increased rapidly over the past decades in most countries, including China. However, little evidence exists about the effects of long-term exposure to PM2.5 components on overweight or obesity, particularly in developing countries. We measured different weight stages according to body mass index (BMI), and investigated the effects of exposure to PM2.5 components (ammonium [\({\text{NH}}_{4}^{+}\)], sulfate [\({\text{SO}}_{4}^{{2}-}\)], nitrate [\({\text{NO}}_{3}^{-}\)], black carbon and organic matter) on different BMI levels in middle-aged and elderly people of China. Our study explored the effects of single and multiple air pollution exposures on overweight and obesity by using the Generalized Linear Model and Quantile g-Computation model (QgC). This study found a significantly positive association between five PM2.5 components and overweight/obesity. In the QgC model, there was still a positive association between multiple exposure to PM2.5 components and overweight when all PM2.5 components were considered as a whole. In addition, males, the elderly, and urban residents were also more sensitive to five PM2.5 components.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

PM2.5 :

Fine particulate matter

\({\text{SO}}_{4}^{{2}-}\) :

Sulfate

\({\text{NO}}_{3}^{-}\) :

Nitrate

\({\text{NH}}_{4}^{+}\) :

Ammonium

OM:

Organic matter

BC:

Carbon black

MT:

Mean temperature

MRH:

Mean relative humidity

GLM:

Generalized linear model

QgC:

Quantile g-computation

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The Project for Top Disciplinary Talents of Majors in Universities of Anhui Province [Grant Numbers gxbjZD09]. The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Funding

This work was supported by The Project for Top Disciplinary Talents of Majors in Universities of Anhui Province [Grant Numbers gxbjZD09].

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Author notes

  1. Xue Li and Yueyang Wu contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Shushan District, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Xue Li, Yueyang Wu, Guoao Li, Wenbin Shen, Wei Xiao, Jianjun Liu, Wenlei Hu, Huanhuan Lu & Fen Huang

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  1. Xue Li
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  3. Guoao Li
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Contributions

LX: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing an original draft, Formal analysis. WY: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing—original draft. LG: Conceptualization, Writing—review & editing. SW, XW: Writing—review & editing, Methodology. LJ, HW: Methodology, Software. LH: Formal analysis. HF: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing—review & editing, Project administration, Funding acquisition. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fen Huang.

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Li, X., Wu, Y., Li, G. et al. The combined effects of exposure to multiple PM2.5 components on overweight and obesity in middle-aged and older adults: a nationwide cohort study from 125 cities in China. Environ Geochem Health 45, 8749–8760 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-023-01741-2

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